Chapter 6: Colleagues

Jiaotu rolled her eyes. "There are at least twenty shops selling Xuan paper in Luocheng, all backed by high-ranking officials. Which one should I go to?"

Chen Ji: "Then you should ask Zhou Chengyi."

Jiaotu jumped off Zhou Chengyi's back and turned him over: "Zhou Chengyi?"

"Oh, Zhou Chengyi?!"

But Zhou Chengyi's face was blue, his eyes wide open, and he was already dead.

"Jiaotu, you accidentally killed him!" Yunyang exclaimed.

Jiaotu rolled her eyes: "Don't try to shift the blame, he was poisoned."

Yunyang was puzzled: "But I removed the poison sac from his mouth."

Jiaotu: "He must have hidden more poison on his body. His attempt to kill the boy was a ruse; he was actually trying to retrieve the poison secretly."

"That's still your responsibility; you were supposed to guard him."

"If you keep shifting the blame, I'll lose my temper."

Yunyang: "Sorry, it's a reflex reaction..."

Jiaotu looked at Chen Ji: "Going to each shop one by one would take too long. If we delay, we'll lose this big fish. Do you have any ideas?"

Chen Ji slowly got up and walked to the table, his hand gently tracing the texture of the Xuan paper: "Xuan paper is handmade, and each craftsman has different habits. Some like to use more Qingtan bark, others prefer more rice straw. Some like to grind the pulp finely, while others prefer to grind it coarsely. The craftsmanship determines the price... If we find the same paper, we can find the shop."

Jiaotu bent down to closely examine the texture of the Xuan paper, which had always looked the same to her before...

...

...

At that moment, a knocking sound came from outside the courtyard. Someone picked up the copper ring on the Zhou family's gate and rhythmically knocked on the door.

Outside the gate, a hoarse voice asked: "Zhou Chengyi, is Chen Ji in your house?"

Instantly, Yunyang, Jiaotu, all the black-clad men, and Chen Ji looked toward the source of the voice.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking sound rang again, the copper ring on the gate striking the red-painted door, slow and steady, with an inexplicable sense of pressure.

In the dead of night, the knocking sound seemed particularly jarring.

The black-clad men slowly drew their waist knives without making a sound, waiting for Yunyang's instructions.

These were the elite of the elite. Chen Ji recalled that since he had arrived in this world, not one of them had said an extra word.

Knock, knock, knock.

The person outside, seeing no response, asked again in a hoarse voice: "Chen Ji, are you inside?"

Chen Ji was somewhat bewildered.

Who would come looking for him?

He looked at Yunyang, who had a fluctuating expression. After a moment of thought, he signaled to a black-clad man: "Bring the bodies inside the house."

Jiaotu looked at Yunyang: "Who is it?"

"You don't need to be nervous, I recognize the voice," Yunyang walked over to lift the door bolt.

The gate opened, and in the darkness outside, an old man with a hunched back stood there. He wore a gray robe and black shoes with white soles, his face full of wrinkles like the dry earth's crevices.

The old man's beard reached his chest, his hair tied up with a green hairpin, and his beard and hair were snow-white, as old as could be.

The old man was somewhat surprised to see Yunyang, who put on a smile: "Doctor Yao, it's been a while. Are you still in good health?"

The old man was silent for a moment: "It's you. Shouldn't you be in the capital? Why are you in Luocheng?"

Yunyang explained: "I had some temporary business, so I came. I happened to visit Zhou Chengyi tonight and met Chen Ji, so I stayed to talk with him."

The old man asked: "Is the eunuch's leg better?"

"It's much better. He even praised you as a divine doctor, saying you cured the rheumatism he got from the coal bureau years ago," Yunyang said with a smile. "It's a pity you didn't stay in the capital; otherwise, the emperor would have summoned you long ago."

"I can't cure the emperor's illness," the old man said, then changed the subject: "Chen Ji, since the medicine has been delivered, you should go back now."

Yunyang thought for a moment: "Chen Ji, go back with your master. Look at how concerned Doctor Yao is, coming all this way to pick you up at his age."

Chen Ji didn't expect Yunyang to let him go... Perhaps it was because the old man mentioned the eunuch?

He hurried out, and as he passed Jiaotu, she grabbed him: "Don't talk recklessly when you get back. We'll come looking for you again."

Chen Ji didn't say anything and quickly walked out: "Master, let's go back."

"Sure."

Doctor Yao, with his hands behind his back, hunched over, slowly walked down the long street without asking another question.

Chen Ji felt two pairs of eyes like hooks staring at his back. He turned to see Yunyang and Jiaotu at the gate, smiling faintly at him.

Yunyang and Jiaotu, both in black, were very handsome, with straight backs, the kind of people who would catch the eye on the street.

But these two people killed without blinking, as if human life was the cheapest thing in the world.

Poisonous scorpions, that was Chen Ji's deepest impression of them.

Chen Ji quickened his pace to follow the old man, and with a bang, the Zhou family's gate closed behind them.

Chen Ji sighed in relief.

This seemed to be a world where human life was as cheap as grass.

At the beginning of his穿越, he didn't have much desire to survive, just observing everything as a bystander, not really caring whether he lived or died.

But if he could be reborn once, could his parents also have a chance to be reborn? This was crucial to him.

He had to survive first.

"Master, thank you for coming to pick me up," Chen Ji said sincerely, very earnestly.

The old man sighed: "If I had known it was the Secret Service people here tonight, I wouldn't have come."

Chen Ji: "..."

What does that mean?

You don't want me as a disciple anymore?

The old man muttered to himself: "Strange, the divination before I left was very auspicious, I thought I would find a gold ingot... What a load of nonsense."

Chen Ji was confused: "Master, don't you want to ask about tonight...?"

The old man, walking ahead, turned back and raised a hand to block the topic: "Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know about such troublesome things. Knowing it will only bring bad luck. I've lived to ninety-two by not getting involved in other people's affairs."

Chen Ji: "You're quite good at avoiding trouble..."

The old man stopped: "The medicine has been delivered, where's the payment?"

Chen Ji was taken aback; he didn't know about the payment: "I forgot to ask Zhou Chengyi for it..."

The old man turned back, displeased: "Go back and ask them for it."

Chen Ji was firm: "I won't go."

The old man thought for a while: "Then you'll have to pay for the medicine yourself."

Chen Ji changed the subject: "Do you know them well?"

The old man said: "We dealt with each other in the capital years ago. They are ruthless and always do things that anger heaven and man. If you see them on the street, pretend you don't know them. Or, you can pretend you don't know me when you go out on the street."

Chen Ji: "..."

The old man muttered to himself: "With a high-ranking official from the Secret Service here, Luocheng is bound to be in turmoil."

The long street was quiet, Luocheng seemed to be asleep, even the usually bustling East Market was quiet, with many lights extinguished.

A night watchman, carrying a white lantern, passed them, idly striking the gong and shouting about the dry weather and the need to be careful with fire.

At a crossroads, Chen Ji suddenly saw his master take out three copper coins from his sleeve.

The next moment, the old man looked up at the stars, squatted down, and cast the coins six times on the stone road: "Hmm... go left."

"Master, is there any danger on the right?" Chen Ji asked curiously.

"No danger, but the divination suggests we might encounter a beggar. I've developed a bit of sympathy in my old age, and I might give him some money if I see him, so I'll take a detour to avoid it," the old man explained calmly.

Chen Ji: "..."

...

...

Inside the Zhou family's house, Jiaotu sat on a chair, chin in hand, looking at the night sky: "Just let him go? Because his master knows the eunuch?"

"How could that be? The eunuch is a ruthless person who turns on his allies. Not to mention Doctor Yao's disciple, even Doctor Yao would die if he stood in the eunuch's way."

Jiaotu sighed: "Okay, do you think that boy is a spy for the Jing Dynasty?"

"Definitely," Yunyang said firmly. "An ordinary apprentice couldn't withstand my needles; they would have fainted from the pain. Also, look at his quick thinking; it's not something a medical apprentice could do."

Jiaotu was puzzled: "Then why let him go?"

Yunyang smiled: "If he is a spy, he came here tonight to meet Zhou Chengyi and pass on information. The Military Intelligence Bureau of the Jing Dynasty must know about this. After Zhou Chengyi disappears tonight, they will assume he betrayed Zhou Chengyi and will send someone to eliminate him."

Jiaotu's eyes lit up: "The Jing Dynasty is always harsh on traitors. They will definitely send someone to kill him. Then we can capture the person sent to kill him and claim another merit!"

"Exactly!"

After a while, a black-clad man returned to report: "Two shops with matching Xuan paper have been found. The shopkeepers and assistants are being taken to the Luocheng prison."

Jiaotu stood up: "I'll go and interrogate them tonight!"

Yunyang stretched: "I'll handle the bodies, then I'll go back to rest early."

"Let's talk about how to divide the credit!"

"Of course, fifty-fifty."

"No way."

Yunyang raised an eyebrow: "Why not?"

Jiaotu: "I killed nine people tonight, you only killed six, and I captured Zhou Chengyi. Sixty-forty, or you won't invite me to work with you again."

Yunyang sighed: "Colleague relationships are harder to handle than corpses. Sixty-forty it is."

Jiaotu jumped off the chair and led the black-clad men away happily, leaving Yunyang to clean up.

After everyone left, Yunyang took out a dozen palm-sized... shadow puppet figures from his sleeve.

He used silver needles to pierce the wrists of each corpse, squeezing out drops of fresh blood.

Then he used the drops of blood to paint the eyes of the shadow puppet figures.

The blood seeped into the eyes of the figures, turning them a deep red, and the figures seemed to come to life.

"Done!"

The next moment, all the dead bodies in the courtyard stood up, expressionless, and followed Yunyang out of the Zhou family's house.

The group walked down the long street for a while, and Yunyang suddenly saw a small beggar huddled under a grass mat on the side of the road, curled up from the cold.

Yunyang stared at the beggar for a long time, then took out a string of copper coins from his sleeve and threw them on the ground before leading the dozen corpses into the night.

(End of Chapter)